CANADA AND HER FORESTS 



175 



CANADA AND HER FORESTS 



In her forest resources Canada has assets comparable with those 

 of the United States in extent and variety, and the Dominion is con- 

 fronted with much the same problems of fire protection, reforestation, 

 insects and disease control, research and utilization, as is this country. 

 To meet these issues, Canada is following similar methods of adminis- 

 tration, of arousing public opinion through forestry and conserva- 

 tion publicity, of technical education and of investigation. 



Administration of the timberlands and the forestry activity of the 

 Dominion Government is vested in the Department of the Interior. 

 There are three branches of the department, one concerned with 

 forestry alone, known as the Dominion Forest Service, another with 

 timber and grazing and the third with the Dominion parks. Ontario, 

 Quebec, British Columbia and New Brunswick have provincial 

 forestry departments, while in Nova Scotia the forestry work and 

 authority are vested in the Commissioner of Crown Lands. 



There are thousands of unexplored and more or less inaccessible 

 acres of forest in the Dominion, and, as a result, exact data is lacking 

 on the extent of her forest resources. It is estimated, however, that 

 there are 767,000,000 acres of forest land, 292,000,000 acres of which 

 support growth of timber of merchantable size, commercially valuable 

 as saw timber or for pulpwood, with 153,000,000 of these acres sup- 

 porting a stand of saw timber size. On between 60 and 65 per cent, 

 of the forest land the commercial timber has been destroyed by cutting 

 or by fire.* 



The following is an estimate of the accessible saw-timber material :* 



Slightly more than 93 per cent, of the total forest land area of 

 Canada belongs to the Dominion and the remainder is in the hands 



*Estimates of Roland D. Craig, F. E., Forestry Branch, Department of the Interior, 

 Ottawa, Canada. 



